5 Ways to Recover from a Workout

Oct 13, 2015 3:02:13 PM

Your rest and recovery routine is as important as your workout routine, and has an impact on your fitness gains and performance. Plus, we all know the feeling of soreness throughout your body with every step you take for the next few days is no fun! Here are 5 ways to effectively recover faster and stronger.

1. Hydration

You've heard this many times before, but that goes to show how important it is! Replenishing your fluids helps to flush the toxins from your body and prevents dehydration. So make sure you drinks lots of water after your workout!

2. Taking in the right nutrients

You know that feeling of just wanting to gobble up all the food in sight after your workout? Turns out that there are some foods that are more effective in maximising your recovery.

Potassium-rich food: Playing a role in muscular energy, your potassium reserves will probably be sapped after a workout session. Replenish them with some potatoes and - you've guessed it - bananas!

Vitamin C: Working as an antioxidant, it limits free radical damage to our tissues essential for production of connective tissue fibres and cartilage.

Anti-inflammatory food: Especially for those recovering from an injury, avoiding inflammatory foods is important. Opt for more pineapples, ginger, and antioxidant-packed blue, red, or purple coloured fruits in your diet.

Combine the above foods and hydration - you get FP Juice's Power House! Containing organic orange and lemon among other fruits and vegetables, you can conveniently get all the nutrients and fluids you need in one place. Reward yourself with a cold and refreshing bottle of Power House that does all the recovery for you. Now isn't that nice for a post-workout routine.

3. Contrast water therapy

Some athletes swear by ice baths, but something we can do more easily at home with the same effect is contrast water therapy. While taking your post-workout shower, alternate 2 minutes of hot water with 30 seconds of cold water, and repeat a few times. By repeatedly constricting and dilating your blood vessels, the toxins in the tissues are flushed out to reduce the soreness you're expecting after a few hours.

4. Active recovery

Get involved in some light movement like throwing a frisbee around or even just walking to the store. Although this may seem counterintuitive for a recovery routine, it actually helps to stimulate blood flow and improve circulation to the muscles to reduce soreness.

5. High quality sleep

Last but not least, something most of us definitely don't do enough of. More than just for relaxing, sleep is the necessary downtime when your body releases growth hormones for it to repair the damage that has been done to your muscles during workouts, and restore itself. More reasons to sleep longer? Yes, please.